Purdue Calumet ExL Recognized By Junior Achievement of NWI

Purdue Calumet Making a Difference!

Exciting things are happening with Junior Achievement and Purdue University Calumet. As our partnership grows, PUC is getting involved with Junior Achievement in many different ways.

Purdue University Calumet is a recognized leader in experiential education. It is one of the few universities in the nation that gives all students the opportunity to build Experiential Learning (ExL) into their curriculum by requiring two courses for graduation. A Leadership class, one of the ExL courses offered at PUC, took on the first- and second-grade classes at Morton Elementary School in Hammond and presented the JA curriculum to a total of 12 classes on Oct. 21.

Alpha Psi Lambda, the nation’s first and largest co-ed Latino fraternity, taught JA classes at Morton last year, and is scheduled to go to Irving Elementary in November.

One of the eight purposes of the fraternity is to serve the university campus and community. Junior Achievement has provided Alpha Psi Lambda’s Epsilon Chapter at Purdue University Calumet a great opportunity to do just that. The program provides members with an opportunity to give back to the community that supports them.

“The smiles on the children’s faces as we teach them valuable lessons about how their community and government works is reward enough for this community service endeavor,” said secretary of the fraternity Jessica Ruiz.

Additionally, several Purdue Calumet faculty members volunteer their time to speak at “Ask the Expert” events that JA hosts throughout the school year. Charles R. Winer, Department Head of the Computer Information Technology & Graphics Department at Purdue University Calumet, is one of those professors who often speak at these career days.

“Through the Junior Achievement program, I have been invited and been able to participate in meeting with students in our local area schools to let them know how and what we in the information technology (IT) field do,” Winer said.

Winer is working on developing a summer camp to allow local students to visit the campus and learn more about the IT field. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with Purdue Calumet!

Above: Purdue Calumet Experiential Learning students getting ready to volunteer in the second grade classes at Morton Elementary in Hammond